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A volunteer with the American Littoral Society looks over some of the oyster spat, or seedlings, that were taken by boat to an artificial reef called Good Luck Point about a quarter-mile off Ocean Gate, N.J., in Berkeley Township. The ... more >

OCEAN GATE, N.J. (AP) - An environmental group took a major step on Wednesday toward re-establishing an oyster colony in Barnegat Bay.

The American Littoral Society held a send-off party in Ocean Gate for thousands of oyster spat, or seedlings, which were taken by boat to an artificial reef about a quarter-mile off a section of Berkeley Township called Good Luck Point.

The group initially seeded its spat tank with 1.5 million larvae at the end of June. Nearly 21,000 of those larvae, or 1.4 percent, eventually attached to shells in the tank, and they were put in the bay on Wednesday.

Officials were encouraged by the numbers, because less than 1 percent attachment is common in the wild.

Several small boats took part in the procession to take the oyster spat to the reef. Staff and volunteers then dumped the spat into the bay and returned to shore.

The goal of the colony is to help improve water quality in the struggling bay. The shellfish naturally filter out pollutants and impurities. But there’s another benefit as well: hardening the shoreline against devastating storms like Superstorm Sandy. The hard shells and the irregular, raised profile of the oyster beds help blunt the impact of waves and storm surges on the shoreline.

The colonies also serve as important habitat for fish and crabs, which are vital to the recreational fishing and boating industries along the bay.

“We are putting the pieces back in the bay, and we are doing it by pure willpower,” said Tim Dillingham, executive director of the American Littoral Society. “Ultimately, restoration of the bay and fixing its problems will have to be solved by the community, but this shows we are on the right path.”

The send-off party came about three months after the group hired a barge to dump 160 tons of whelk shells onto the bay floor. Oysters, which are naturally attracted to shells, attach themselves and grow.

Some area residents, young and old, helped group members and volunteers load the spat onto the boats, saying it was the least they could do to help improve the bay’s health. The spat was taken to the site in large containers carrying placards that read “Babies on Board.”

“We all need to be concerned about the environment,” Jane Seymour said. “You can’t just ignore it.”

Because oyster shells are comparatively hard to come by, the group chose the much larger whelk shells as a substitute. But the Littoral Society also has started a shell recycling program in which a restaurant will retain the shells of oysters eaten by customers. The group will then pick up the shells and add them to the reef.

Because there are so many fewer oysters in the bay these days, the group hopes to introduce more spat onto the reef, possibly next year.

“We want to keep going with this because it’s an important project,” Dillingham said.

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This story has been corrected to show there were 21,000 oyster larvae, not 1.5 million.